


I'll be Here

by Im_not_afraid



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Comfort, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, Grief/Mourning, M/M, everyone is ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 15:54:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11084928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_not_afraid/pseuds/Im_not_afraid
Summary: Thrawn's mind drifts back, a rare thing indeed, and he sees an older Chiss playing with him, teaching him right from wrong, and being there.And that Chiss isn't here now.





	I'll be Here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moomkin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moomkin/gifts).



> This is a gift for @moomkin and in sorry that its so bad! I can't write Thrawn or accents at all.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own no one

Thrawn was really good at not showing emotion as a general rule. As a Chiss, which apparently weren't very good at being emotional anyway, and as a Grand Admiral of the Imperial Navy. The emotions Eli had seen in a high ranking official was contentment, angry, and 'If-you-dare-cross-the-line-I-swear-to-Ashla-I'm-going-to-get-a-hold-of-an-Inquisitor-or-Darth Vader' fury. So to walk into Thrawns' office and see him looking melancholy, borderline depressed was unusual. It wasn't obvious, and surely would've gone unnoticed by someone new, but Eli wasn't new, he could see the slight furrow in Thrawn's brows, the slightest creases in the uniform.

'Ta ask, or not ta ask?' Eli thought silently, frowning.

Thrawn's eyes snapped to Eli's, red meeting green hazel. Thrawn saw Eli's behavior, the way Eli looked uncomfortable.

"Anything wrong, Lieutenant Commander?" Thrawn asked and Eli noticed the barely noticeable hoarseness in the voice.

"Well," Eli began and looked around the office. It was just him and Thrawn, liked it had been back at the Academy on Coruscant. That's when Thrawn had been most open, asking questions, questioning answers. Perhaps Thrawn might open up, if just for his sake. "If I may speak openly, Grand Admiral..." Eli let his sentence hang, knowing Thrawn would pick it up and carry it through.

Thrawn nodded, gestured the chair in front of his desk with his right hand. "You may," There was a pause as Eli sat down in the chair, feeling his backbone embraced by the cushion. "Eli."

If Eli wasn't surprised, he was now. Thrawn hadn't called Eli by his name in over three Standard years, not that Eli was keeping track or anything.

"Well, Thrawn," Eli tested the shallow waters, only to find that they had deepened and that they were being accepted. "Somethin's nat righ'" Eli let his accent flow freely, knowing it was just the backworld yokel and the alien in the Empire, the two of them alone.

"Regarding?" Thrawn asked. Eli's surprise turned into frustration.

"You. Ya ain't actin' norhmal." Eli said.

Thrawn showed minuscule surprise, his eyes widened. Then, he put his gaze down and looked up, not at Eli, but over his shoulder. He sighed and got up and looked out his window, looking out into the stars and looked even more upset.

Eli felt as if he had just had a load of doonium dropped onto his lap. How was he supposed to deal with the emotion just shown? Eli knew where it had come from, for Eli had willingly showed emotion back in the Academy and before that. Now it was getting to Thrawn, years later.

Eli got up and stood a respectful distance from Thrawn while remaining informal and casual, hoping to put Thrawn a bit at ease.

"Wanna talhk abou' it?" Eli asked. Thrawn seemingly ignored him, but Eli knew he heard him.

"This day, 12 years ago," Thrawn began, voice heavy. "I was back on Csilla, and it was," He paused and his hand shook."As you say, long story short," Thrawn paused again and this time it was sharp. "I have a brother, Mitth'ras'safis or Thrass. He's older than me." Thrawn stopped and Eli felt hte sailor's knot in his stomach grow and tightened. "Or he was." Thrawn's breathing was deep, creating fog on the glass. "I'm...I'm not sure. He had to go on a flight to protect...I don't know."

Eli read in between the cracks. He knew that it wasn't the fact that Thrawn's brother was dead, it was the fact that he didn't know. Thrawn had always been sure, but now he wasn't.

"Thrawn-"

"He isn't. I sense it." Thrawn's red eyes seemed to dull as he took in this sullen thought, the sullen fact.''

"Thrawn, I," Eli swallowed, only to find his throat hurt and ached. "I neveh knew."

"I know." The glowing eyes were even more glazed, the voice raspy from the cracking in his throat.

Eli rested a hand on Thrawn's shoulder, before moving it to rest across Thrawn's waist. It would've fallen on his opposite shoulder, but the Chiss was just too tall for that. Before Eli could inhale, he found himself hugging Thrawn and explaining it.

"This is a hug. We do it to comfort people we care abou'"

To his surprise, Thrawn hugged him back.

Eli let a moment pass.

"He would be proud a ya."

Thrawn huffed a laugh and Eli felt it move his hair. "I would like to think so."

Another moment.

"He would've made a great Senator."

"Are ya e'er mad that Chiss don' get a say in the Senate?"

A pause.

"No. If the Emperor dare cross my people, I'll speak up for them."

"For Thrass."

"I will too, Thrawn." Eli said earnestly as he felt Thrawn rub Eli's back.

"I know, Eli."


End file.
